Life's a Dream?

The wind is blowing here today and it's one of those glorious fall days where the sun is shining, the air has a crispness to it and leaves are starting to drop from the trees. Truly picturesque. Makes me want to grab the camera and go out taking pictures. Maybe I just will (after I catch up on some of your wonderful blogs in this few minutes I have before soccer carpool).

Well, I tried to do Sunday Scribblings this week. I'll post it at the end of this post but won't link it because I'm tired of always being tardy. In fact, I had a dream about that last night. Anytime my life starts edging up the crazy scale, I start having dreams about school. I used to have these horrible dreams that I had to go back to junior high or high school as an adult because there was some gross error and I never really passed all my classes. I used to think these dreams were all related to the fact that I didn't finish college and they stemmed from some deep sense of failure. I know that one doesn't need a college diploma to be successful, but I think a part of me always felt like I let my dad down by not finishing. Well, when I went back to school a few years ago and finished my degree, I really thought my nights of dreaming about school were over.

No such luck. The dreams certainly eased off for awhile, but it seems that whenever there's stress in my life, I revert back to the "late for class, missing homework, missing a schedule, can't open my locker" kind of dreams. At least last night, for the first time, I was dreaming that I was in college again. I feel sort of good about that - like I've graduated in a sense. Could it just be that my subconscious starts laughing hysterically when I try to put myself in junior high or high school in my dreams. "Ha! This chick is WAY too old to walk the halls here anymore. After all, she has a REAL daughter walking the halls of a middle school now. Bump her up to the college dream thread - same pressures, just a different campus with people closer to her own age." I'm such a freak sometimes. OK, most of the time.

So being a parent of a middle schooler is going well. (I'm crouching as I write this, waiting for the sky to fall.) There are some issues we're working through. Like the whole, "Did you remember your books? Your PE clothes? Your soccer gear? Your fees for your classes? Your lunch? Your lunch money? Your homework . . . " Gah! That kid has a lot to remember and she's not always the best at that task. She's doing pretty good, but the one thing we are working on is fully brushing her hair as opposed to the obligatory 4-stroke effort she seems to think does the job. Her long hair tends to get knotted just under the surface in the back, just far enough around that she has trouble reaching it and therefore, thinks it must not need brushing. For some reason, this drives me absolutely INSANE and I'm constantly asking her to brush it again and in true mother/daughter fashion, half the requests end up in a raised voice, a rebellious stomp or tearful pout depending on our moods and which number request we're on. Is it really too much to ask a 12 year old brush out her hair? I hate obsessing over this because my mom was always very critical about my hair and frequently told me, in public, how bad it looked. I am trying so hard NOT to be my mom in this area but I really just have a visceral, physical, blood-pressure through the roof, kind of reaction when she goes out with the chronic bed-head look. So all of you out there who have kindly commented on my parenting skills and thought that I might just deserve "Mother of the Year" honors, you'd better scratch my name off the list, because I think this pretty much disqualifies me.

Ahhh . . . feeling better now that that's off my chest a bit. Thanks ya'll. Oh - and thanks to everyone for the great suggestions for the gift baskets. My good friend Cheryl (who is an awesome floral artist) took me to "market" on Friday here in Portland. Did you know that there are shops where floral designers buy all the cool stuff they use for parties, weddings and other celebrations for much cheaper than we buy it at the local craft store? It was a real treat wandering the aisles and seeing all the very wonderful, creative tools and goodies out there for making pretty things. We found great baskets, filler and other fun things to decorate the green room at the concert (Caedmon's Call - October 22nd - in case you missed my last post). I'm really getting excited to meet these talented artists and see the concert process from the view of the green room (OK - not as one of the band or a real technical groupie, but as the gal who is going to try to make it cozy and yummy with lots of NW goodies - I'll take what I can get.)

This post is getting too long, so I'll post the Sunday Scribbling exercise tomorrow (or soon . . . how's that for being non-commital). Gives me a little time to polish it up a bit. Take care ya'll!